


Out of the Frying Pan...

by writeswithfeatherquills



Series: UnderVale [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game), Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Blueberry gets in trouble, Uh-oh, Yeah I'm continuing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:24:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6353371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeswithfeatherquills/pseuds/writeswithfeatherquills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Error is really strong. Nearly unstoppable, except of course for the unbeatable powers of friendship! But other than that, he's impossible to beat. So imagine Blueberry's surprise when Error returns from one of his "jobs" glitching almost out of existence with fear. What was IN that universe?</p><p>None of them want to know the answer.</p><p>(Set after "What the actual hell is this place?!" And before the week-long hell update CQ just did.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of the Frying Pan...

“Hhhuufffff….” The long, resigned sigh echoed in the white space, which was odd. Nothing really echoed in here, usually. The endless whiteness of the anti-void kind of...swallowed everything up, sound included. Their voices always seemed a little dull, a little quiet, and it was usually kind of unsettling. But the sigh echoed now. Sans wondered if maybe it had anything to do with Error’s absence.

His glitching friend (and only company) had left a while ago. It was impossible to tell time in here, but he was pretty sure that he should be back by now. His...jobs...never usually took him that long. 

Part of him hoped that somebody had finally managed to get Error. Disable him, injure him, kill him, so that he wouldn’t hurt people anymore.

_ No, Error is my friend, he just needs a little...guidance, is all. _

He didn’t hope Error was dead. Honestly, he wasn’t that bad a guy! Except for the whole murdering-people thing. But he was just confused. That was all. He had a severely skewed idea of right and wrong, and Sans was trying to help him with that. 

But it didn’t seem like that was getting anywhere. So all he could do was continue to be a good friend to Error, and hope that one day he would trust Sans enough to listen to him. 

He looked down at the tangled skein of yarn in his hands, and sighed again. He had been trying to untangle this thing for a while, after a terribly botched attempt of cat’s cradle had rendered it a useless, knotted mess. How did Error do it? Sans had seen him play cat’s cradle when the glitching had him almost completely blind, and yet as soon as Sans looped the string once around his fingers, it was a rat’s nest. And he didn’t have any other yarn, so he would just have to deal with this. Good thing he had plenty of time, huh? Sigh. 

All of a sudden, there was a violent tearing sound, and Sans’ head jerked up in time to see a dark window open. Error was back! His smile went back up on his face at the sight of his friend, but fell slightly when Error hurriedly closed the window, and then fell backwards against nothing, collapsing in on himself. That...wasn’t normal. 

“E-Error?” Sans called, abandoning the yarn and hurrying over to his friend. The usual glitches that blurred Error’s frame had grown more violent, black and red pixels appearing and disappearing everywhere as the word “ERROR” multiplied and shuddered all over the place. A sort of electrical, glitching shriek was coming from him, and Sans could tell that would turn into a nasty headache in no time flat. 

“Error!” Sans reached out to his friend, but at the last moment he remembered the last time he had tried to touch him, and retracted his hand. What...what was he supposed to do?

“Error, can you hear me?” He asked.

“ _ No no no not him not him no no done done with that shit no not sans not sans not him get out get out fuck that done no no no not him not here he’s not here” _

An endless stream of this nonsense poured out of Error’s mouth, rendered almost unintelligible by the glitching. Sans was really worried now, because sure, he had seen Error glitch out a few times, he had seen the little error messages grow more insistent, sometimes even to the point where they blocked Error’s vision or blurred his silhouette almost past the point of recognition. 

But this was much, much worse. 

Error was barely recognizable as a single entity anymore, he was just scattered pixels and crazy muttering and that incessant shrieking tone that wouldn’t go away. And Sans had no idea what to do to help. 

“Error, come on, hey. What do I do?” He asked, getting as close as he dared, putting his face right in front of where he was guessing Error’s was, barely being able to see his eyes, flickering colors and wide pupils through a sea of glitching pixels.

“ _ No no no get out get out get out not him it’s not him fuck this shit fuck it fuck it fuck it I’m out, i gotta get out, get out get OUT, please just LET ME OUT!” _

Error continued rambling, and Sans started to wonder just where he had been. Was the universe he had traveled to so terrifying? Nothing scared Error, he was either insane enough or powerful enough, or both, that he never seemed afraid of anything (except maybe Sans? But that was a whole ‘nother thing that he wasn’t going to get into right now). So Sans was seriously concerned about whatever it was that he had seen that had been terrifying enough to do this to him. 

“Error, Error you  _ are _ out! You’re here, in the anti-void, with me! Okay? You’re with me, you’re safe, I promise.”

“ _ No, no no no, not him not here not here, _ ”

Sans frowned, wondering what to try next, when he realized that Error had responded to him. Sort of. It wasn’t much, but perhaps him saying “not here” was denying Sans’ insistence that they were in the anti-void? That meant that he could hear Sans, that he was getting through to him! Maybe he was just disoriented, maybe Sans could bring him back just by talking to him. He just had to keep trying. It was a brief glimmer of hope that Sans, confused and scared himself, grabbed and held onto like a life raft in a storm.

“Hey, Error, it’s okay. I promise. It’s okay, you’re in the anti-void. You’re not wherever you were--”

He was cut off by a whine that was a half-pitch lower than that incessant mechanical screech, as Error curled in on himself and whimpered. Sans winced, and continued, fighting to keep his voice level.

“You’re here, you’re safe. You’re safe, Error, you’re with me, I promise, I won’t let anything hurt you. You’re safe.”

And yeah, maybe he had been hoping that something like this would happen five minutes ago, hoping that something would stop Error, and by god if he didn’t seem pretty stopped right now. But actually seeing that wish come to fruition? Sans was ashamed. His friend was very scared and probably hurt, how could he have wished this upon him, even for a second, even with everything he’d done?

“You’re okay, Error. You’re okay. You’re okay. You’re here, in the anti-void, with me. I got you.” Sans had to clench his hands into fists on his lap to keep from reaching out to physically comfort Error, but he knew that would only make everything a thousand times worse.

Slowly, ever so agonizingly slowly, the glitching seemed to calm down. A little bit. Sans brightened, and continued murmuring soft reassurances to his friend, letting him know he was here, he was safe, Sans wasn’t going to let anything get him, he promises, he promises. 

After a long, long,  _ long _ time, what felt like days, Sans was finally able to see Error relatively clearly, the glitching died down to a somewhat normal amount. The terrible screeching had stopped somewhere along the way, much to Sans’ relief, and Error’s frantic, insistent ramblings had died down to a few half-hearted mutters, and then finally into an exhausted silence. 

“You’re okay...you’re okay...hey, you’re alright, you’re here, everything’s...okay…” Sans muttered, his voice scratchy and exhausted from the constant talking. He was pretty much speaking on autopilot now, his vision blurry and maybe he was swaying, maybe Error was tilting slightly in his line of sight, was he about to fall over? Maybe. It didn’t matter, he just had to keep going. 

“You’re okay...you’re okay...I promise...you’re here…”

“B-blueberry?” Error finally spoke, his own voice scratchy and glitchy and uncertain, but it was the first lucid thing he had said since coming back, and that was enough to snap Sans out of it somewhat.

“Error? Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?” His questions became slightly frantic, and his voice cracked and broke and wheezed, but he kept going. He needed to know if Error was okay, that he hadn’t failed, that his friend wasn’t broken beyond any hope of repair.

“Y-yeah, I think so...Hey, what’s up with you? You look terrible.” Error rasped, and Sans fell silent, at a loss for words. Error was staring at him with genuine confusion, looking no different than he normally did, no less lucid, no less stable. He looked like he had just finished an Undernovela binge, not a three-day-long panic attack. 

Sans couldn’t help but laugh. And laugh. And laugh. He was exhausted, he was tired and his throat was beyond sore and Error probably didn’t remember a single thing. He kept laughing until his voice gave out completely, until he was rolling on the ground wheezing and trying to breathe, and Error was looking a little concerned. And just as he started to calm down, he caught sight of Error’s face, and thought to himself-- _ Error is worried about me. About  _ ME!

And then he was laughing again. 

“Uh, heh, Blueberry, you know  _ I’m _ supposed to be the insane one around here, right?” Error asked nervously, his voice scratchy. Man, his throat hurt. That was weird. He watched the Blueberry rolling around, laughing, and began to wonder if maybe he was going insane. That would stink. Having someone sane around here was...actually kind of nice. 

“Ha, hahaha, Error, you...oh jeez.” Blueberry finally fell silent, and grinned at his friend. 

“You okay?” Error asked, and Blueberry nodded, still lying on the ground. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I, uh, think I’m gonna take a nap now, though.” He said, closing his eyes. 

_ At first, I slept, and slept, and slept. Until sleeping was boring… _

Error shook his head. Where had that come from? It hadn’t sounded like the voices...huh. Whatever. He had learned a long time ago to not question things that didn’t make sense. It only led to more problems. He’d just add that to the long list of Things That I Will Never Think About Again. Yep, no problemo. 

 

He sat down, and hoped that Blueberry would wake up soon. 

 

.o.O.o.

 

When Sans woke up, Error was gone. A sticky note he pulled off of his forehead said that he was gone to Underfell to get some more supplies, and he would be back soon. Sans stood up immediately, planning to make use of the time he had alone. He liked Error, he really did, but the anti-void was...well, not a great vacation spot, let’s put it that way. He missed his brother, he missed other physical things, he missed sound, he missed Snowdin. He wanted out, the sooner the better. So, he was going to figure out a way to escape. It would be easy enough to just wait for his brother to come rescue him, but after long enough here, he realized he really didn’t want Paps to have to experience this terrible place. So he would just get out himself, no problem. Well, there was one problem--the only way out seemed to be through those trans-dimensional portals Error opened up, and Sans had no idea how to make those. So, he was going to learn! After all, there was nothing the Magnificent Sans couldn’t accomplish with enough hard work! Yeah!

He thought back to when he had seen Error open the windows, deciding he would start with just mimicking him and seeing if that worked. Error usually just waved his hand and then the whiteness of the anti-void seemed to...peel away, into pixels that arranged themselves into an image, but the image was a whole new universe.

...simple enough.

Sans waved his hand through the air, imagining a window opening up to his universe. Nothing happened. He waited a few seconds, and waved his hand again. Nada. Maybe some blue magic would help? He wreathed his hand in blue light and waved it. No window.

But he did feel something odd. When he moved the blue magic through the air, it almost felt like he was moving it through very light sand, or a weird sort of wire grid. He could feel sharp edges that moved under his fingers, providing little to no resistance and slipping past almost before he could notice them. 

He paused, and then did it again, feeling the strange shapes that he couldn’t see, or even feel without the use of magic. Were these the pixels? Was this his ticket home? He grinned, and waved his hand more, fueling more magic, more pixels, he could start to feel something behind them, like the pixels were covering something up. Was that a universe? He waved his hand wildly, pushing away the pixels. He was so close, almost there…

Suddenly there was an explosion, and the unending white silence of the anti-void erupted into chaos. Black tendrils of darkness shoved through the crack in the anti-void, and a deep, wrenching scream cut through the air like a knife, causing Sans to fall over with his hands over his ears. Everywhere was darkness and fear and oblivion and screaming and oh dear god was this ever a mistake…

He opened his eyes with a shout when he felt something wrap around his midsection, lifting him up into the air. He joined the screaming as he saw one of the tendrils had grabbed him, and was now dragging him towards the rip it had come through. 

“No, no no no!” He struggled, but it was like he was coated in the strongest blue magic ever, unable to move at all. The rip was getting closer, and through it he could see endless blackness with wisps of passing eyes and the smell of blood and sand drifted through. 

“No, no, no, help me, please, ERROR!” He shouted, before he and the tendrils of darkness disappeared through the rip, and the anti-void returned to it’s normal state.

 

A figure revealed himself from where he had hidden within the code of the anti-void, to escape the darkness. He let a low whistle through his teeth, and sat down with a swish of plasticky fabric to wait.

 

.o.O.o.

 

When Error returned from Underfell, he was up three chocolate bars, a blanket, and some cans of soda, and down a considerable amount of his patience.

Looking around, he realized he was also down one Blueberry.

And up one abomination.

He scowled at the newcomer, the blur of rainbow colors in his vision the last thing he wanted to see. He set down the groceries and pulled out a few strings, growling at the filthy virus.

“What do you want. And where’s Blueberry?!”

The abomination grinned at him, and flipped a gold coin.

“That’s a pretty un-fresh way to greet an old bro-pal, my glitchin’ radical brah.” Sanzyfresh drawled.

“Get out.” Error growled, more strings appearing as the last dregs of his patience vanished. He needed to find Blueberry, where was Blueberry? There was nowhere to hide in the void, unless… a horrible thought occurred to him.

“So help me, if you’re possessing him…” 

“Woah, woah, woah there, brotato chip! There’s no need for that totes sicknasty hostility, my chum. I’m not all up inhabitin’ your little buddy.”

“Then where is he?!” Error shouted. He could feel the glitches getting worse, agitating his form and blurring his vision even more. Great. Fresh paused, and then heelied closer. Error took an uneasy step back.

“I know what wack-job universe Lil’ blue bopped off to, but I’m not so sure you need that un-fresh intel right now, brah.” He said as he heelied in a circle around Error, ducking under errant strings. Error grit his teeth and let out a long, tense breath. There was nothing he would love more than to eradicate this absolutely disgusting neon abomination right here and now, but...the freak knew where Blueberry was. 

“Tell. me.” He grit out, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He was vaguely aware that the added tension just tore an arm off of Sans Abomination #13, but couldn’t find it in himself to care. The puppets were much less important than finding Blueberry. 

Fresh rolled to a stop in front of Error, regarding him with that infuriating smile for a second. 

“You ain’t gonna like it, brah. Hella un-fresh, where your little pal is, ya dig?” He said eventually. Error didn’t even bother responding. Fresh sighed.

“Lil’ Blue’s in Night Vale, yo.” He said, uncharacteristically somber. His smile even fell slightly, and those colors seemed less clashy than normal for a split second. Error frowned. Something about that name seemed...very wrong. Very bad. But he couldn’t understand why, it was like some small part of his mind was screaming at him to run in the opposite direction, that this “Night Vale” was bad news. But he needed to make sure that Blueberry wasn’t going to ruin everything. He needed him to be here in the anti-void with him. So he could keep an eye on him. 

“What’s Night Vale?” He asked cautiously. “Is that some new abomination of a universe?” Fresh shook his head.

“Nah, the Vale is a totes-mc-goats nightmare, brah, the most un-fresh place  _ ever _ . Your little buddy ain’t gonna last long in that gnarly place, fo sho.”

“Then I need to get him back.” Error turned away from the abomination and started focusing on the anti-void, trying to sift through the realities in the code, looking for this Night Vale.

“That method’s wiggidy-wack, brah. That ain’t gonna get you nowheres.” 

“Shut up, I don’t need your input.” Error growled, without turning around.

There was a silence, and then he felt a presence, and froze as Fresh’s face appeared a scant two inches above his left shoulder.

“You should check your Browsing History, brah.” He whispered, then disappeared, covering Error and everything around him in disgusting rainbow glitter. Error shuddered, brushing off as much of the glitter as he could before turning back to the window of code he had open. 

Browsing History…

He froze as the implications sank in. Had he been to Night Vale before? His memory really was terrible, so that was definitely possible. It was pretty easy to open up windows to universes he had already visited though, so if that was the case, all he had to do was focus on the feeling of the universe, do a little cut-and-paste with the code, and…

There stood a window of darkness in front of him. He felt extremely uneasy--if he didn’t remember Night Vale, he was sure there was a good reason. This place felt more dangerous than anything he had ever encountered before. It felt like broken rules and darkness and void and fear. He stood in front of the window, fidgeting. Maybe...maybe Fresh had been wrong. Maybe Blueberry wasn’t in here, maybe he didn’t need to go back. He could stay in the safety of the anti-void, and when Blueberry came back they could just--

His thoughts were interrupted by a scream coming from the window. He knew that scream. Blueberry was in trouble.

  
He leapt through the window. 

**Author's Note:**

> YO THERES MORE OF THIS  
> Thank you all for your support, it meant a whole lot to me, and I hope that this installment is just as good!  
> (OH MY GOD writing SanzyFresh was SO FUN. SO RAD.)


End file.
